Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon

Two-disc, 38-track compilation claims to be the "definitive Lennon" collection.

The legend of John Lennon, stripped bare of its romantic and willfully misinformed tales of idealism and near-religious fervor for "changing the world," is mostly a lot of short stories about a stubborn, quick-witted domestic hero. Working class? That's debatable, as is much of Lennon's life for everyone save his widow and second son-- but then all good stories have an air of mystery about them. If I were more cynical, I'd point out that one person's mystery is another's propaganda, but ultimately, Lennon is going to be remembered for songs, not his personal life. Of course his personal life was his songs; to a fault, Lennon wrote about what he knew, however skewed by bitterness, confusion, regret, braggadocio, or even peace and love.

Consequently, it's difficult to hear Lennon's post-Beatles music beyond the frame of whatever commotion was going on in his world at the time. Be it bed-ins for peace, trouble with Immigration, various political rants, relationship highs and woes, or his undying love of old rock and roll, Lennon was as partial as the most insular blogger-- and with no pretense of linking his sources. But then, he was probably smarter than anyone he knew (again, save Yoko Ono), and you can hardly blame a generation of spiritual hangers-on for letting his idiosyncrasies and tantrums run rampant. He wasn't the first punk; he wasn't ever really a hippie; he wasn't a poet, exactly, and he was barely a guitarist. He was a middle-class boomer with a short fuse, overtly provocative social and political ideals, but who was uncut for anything besides making music.

Lennon's music, as a window into his life, is serviceable. As pop, it's immediately distinctive, if frustrating and inconsistent. As something in lieu of new Beatles albums, it's mostly disappointing. But as Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon makes abundantly clear over the span of two CDs, it was also a pretty amazing document of a mature artist going through the same shit as everyone else does. No, I don't recall asking for another Lennon comp, but as I get older, and we all get further from the circumstances that made him an icon, I'm reminded that his insight into growing up and getting on with life (and any number of distractions) was as keen as anyone's.

Collections like this generally serve to rewrite history more often than give representative pictures of reality, but even Lennon's best moments are rife with contradiction and awkward expression. The good news is that Working Class Hero really does include most of his best stuff: "Imagine", "Instant Karma", "(Just Like) Starting Over", and "Give Peace a Chance" are obligated to any Lennon best-of, but Ono and Capitol were pretty spot-on by including ace stuff like "Gimme Some Truth", "Jealous Guy", "#9 Dream" and a fantastic "Real Love" demo-- not to mention most ofPlastic Ono Band. In truth, had this set also included the acerbic, Paul-hating "How Do You Sleep?" from Imagine, I could've recommended it over any of his solo records save POB. Yet again, Lennon is inconsistent to the end. As for rarities, beyond "Real Love", there is a live version of "Come Together" (wherein Lennon warns the crowd they may know more of the words than he does-- and then proves it), but Working Class Hero is supposed to be "definitive," not all-inclusive.

The Double Fantasy-era songs-- "(Just Like) Starting Over", "Watching the Wheels", "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)", "Woman", "Losing You", and the Milk and Honey single "Nobody Told Me"-- stand out from the rest as being a bit slick and out of steam, though in all fairness, also seem far less bitter than, say, "Mind Games". Again, it's all part of the legend that comes crumbling down when you actually listen to the songs-- his "greatest hits" suggest a guy who, while overcoming some of his darkest demons, was still a long way from being comfortable with himself even as he was living in the lap of luxury. The buttoned-up, proto-adult-contemporary sheen ofDouble Fantasy seems like a big slap in the face to real, live marital friction-- certainly about as far a cry as one could get from the uber-stark performances on "God" or "Working Class Hero". Pundits might argue that as Lennon matured as an artist, he felt less need to be musically confrontational. I would argue back that I'm a long way from relating to adult contemporary sheen.

As a collection, Working Class Hero succeeds: The single-disc Lennon Legend always seemed reductive to me, and there's no way I need the four discs of solo Lennon available on theAnthology box set. Better still, this really does give me most of the stuff I'd want to put in my Lennon mp3 folder, and at this point, that's about as good a recommendation as I can give a compilation-- at least until the next one comes around in a couple of years. And what was that about instant karma...